


Beginning Darkness

by Luisa1804



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Childhood Friends, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Good Tom Riddle, Harry Potter & Tom Riddle Grow Up Together, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, It's Not All Bad Though, That's The Bad Part, Time Travel, Torture, Violence, adding tags as I go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-09-22 23:59:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17069675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luisa1804/pseuds/Luisa1804
Summary: "I don't need friends." - "But maybe your friends need you." That's something Tom Riddle still needs to learn. Friendship. Little Harry, the new boy in the orphanage, might just be able to teach him.Warnings: Sensitive Subjects such as torture (Chapter 4), angst, child abuse, neglect, violence, and death will be thematised. None in a very graphic very, but be aware and proceed with caution! Be safe.





	Beginning Darkness

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Beginning Darkness](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/441914) by KathlynRiddle. 



> So, this thing.
> 
> I wrote this back in 2013 and this FF was basically my baby. The longest and most thought out thing I've ever written; 109 pages with a very tiny font and 25 chapters, 93794 words. That's long a novel for me :D
> 
> The original was written in german and I leave a link should anyone, for some reason, rather read this thing in german.  
> But I've decided, as of today, that I want to translate my own 2013-story into English and go over some mistakes and whatnot as I go along.
> 
> English is (surprise!) not my mother language; no, it's german (even bigger surprise!), but I'm having fun rediscovering my old, most loved, story. I honestly can't even remember what happened, it's been so long, so this will be fun.
> 
> The quotes are originally german and I've tried translating those, too.
> 
> Without further adu:
> 
> 1\. the "Original"- Link: https://www.fanfiktion.de/s/50cc631300026a3f067007d0/1/Beginning-darkness-wird-ueberarbeitet-
> 
> 2\. Please take a look at the warnings before reading! Some of the things happening in here might be upsetting if not triggering! Please be safe.
> 
> 3\. Have fun

 

 _Warning_ : Sensitive Subjects such as torture (Chapter 4), angst, child abuse, neglect, violence, and death will be thematised. None in a very graphic very, but be aware and proceed with caution! Be safe.

 

 

 

 

 

|| Chapter 1 ||

 

  
**T** he orphanage's courtyard, usually used for playing, was packed full of children of all age. Only the youngest, to small yet to stand on their own, were allowed to remain inside the orphanage and wait.

  
Nearly everyone watched the street in anticipation; hoping the see the car driving around the corner.

Most of the smaller and easily frightened children remained close to the chaperons. The older and more brave tried very hard to hide how very much afraid they were, too. And the chaperons tried to seem calm and in control; but Tom could see right through them. They were just as afraid as the children.

Some of the children kept glancing at him from the corner of their eyes, trying to be stealthy and failing miserably. He was used to it. Had the chaperons not also been looking; he might have tried to teach them a lesson about how rude it is to stare at other people.

In the last years Tom had learned much about the weird powers he had been born with; had learned much about how to control them, how to use them for what he wanted. He knew exactly how to cause other people pain.

Tom wondered, as did all those around him, if the new one — and the reason for the huge assembly in the courtyard — could do the same things.

Judging from what the chaperons had told them, he might just be able to. There was always the risk that they had exaggerated; one could never know for sure with adults. But, apparently, the boy — Harry, if Tom remembered correctly — had been in a lot of orphanages before and had never stayed longer than a year.

He would soon be six years old. When he had been one an old couple had found him alone in the street, asleep. Abandoned by his parents.

They had brought him to the nearest orphanage and called it a deed well done; they never spared the little boy another thought.

But in every single orphanage he had lived thereafter weird -unnatural- things happened around the boy. Once he had dyed the hair of a chaperon blue. Things seemed to move and even fly if he wanted them to. Supposedly he even flew himself once — right on top of the roof of the orphanage.

Nearly everyone had stared at Tom when they heard that; no wonder, really, since it seemed like something that could describe Tom just as well. Less violent, maybe.

But Tom's curiosity had been peaked — who was this boy, who seemed to be able to do the same things as him?

  
A black car drove around the corner. All conversations stopped abruptly and one tiny girl - Gillian Lennox — turned around and fled into the orphanage. Nobody stopped her; most looked as if they would like nothing more than to follow her inside.

The car stopped directly in front of the orphanage. Mrs. Cole, head of the St. Mary Orphanage, stepped forward towards the car.

An elderly man got out of the car, stepped around it and opened the back door. A little boy with wild, black hair and green eyes stepped out carefully. He held onto an old, tattered suitcase with both hands.

As soon as his feet were on the ground the man turned away again, this time towards Ms. Cole, already starting to speak.

The boy closed the car door behind him and turned around to look at the other children and his new orphanage. His eyes betrayed nothing, seemed nearly emotionless. The children closest to him took a few steps backward. He didn't seem surprised.

Tom found him more intriguing by the minute.

Mrs. Cole turned away from the man, conversation seemingly done. She ignored the boy.

“Mr. White will stay with us for the rest of the day. You will all treat him with respect -”, she looked in Tom's direction for a split-second — “and bid him a warm welcome. Same goes for Harry, of course.”

She pointed carelessly at the boy.

A moment of silence then, in unison “Yes, Mrs. Cole”, and a lot of stomping feet as everyone escaped back to their rooms. Nobody even looked at the new boy more than in passing.

 _“Warm welcome”"_ indeed, Tom thought and nearly smiled. Soon he was the only child still outside.

While Mrs. Cole lead Mr. White inside, babbling about his _hard ride here, and aren't children just the worst thing?_ , Tom continued to watch Harry. The adults payed him no mind; instead they all left him standing there, next to the car, alone. He seemed a bit lost now, not knowing where he was or where he was supposed to go.

Tom could go over, sure, but he remained standing where he was. If the boy wanted something, he should come over himself.

Harry stared at Mrs. Coles retreating back for a moment, angry, but not surprised, before he shifted this hold on his suitcase and started walking in Toms direction.

  
“Hi”, he said, coming to a halt a few steps in front of Tom. Tom kept deliberately quiet. Harry pulled a face. “Do you know where I am supposed to go now?”

Tom took pity. “They haven't told us in which room you will be staying. You will have to ask Mrs. Cole.”

Harry looked to the front door, now closed behind the adults. “Where might she have gone?”

“Common room, most likely.”

Harry's shoulders slumped, and he seemed more lost than ever. “And ... where will that be?”

Tom was nearly amused. “I'll show you”, he said and turned around. “My name is Tom, by the way.”

Harry scrambled behind him to keep up, his suitcase shifting in his hands again. Together they stepped into the sordid entrance hall, till Tom took a sharp turn left and lead Harry into a tiny room, half living room, half office. It looked just as scabby as the entrance; the furniture old and not fitting together.

The adults were sitting on an old couch that looked like it may collapse on them in any second. A few children were on the ground, playing with marbles.

Their entrance went unnoticed by the children, but the adults looked up sharply.

“Tom? Harry? What is it?”, Mrs. Coles smile looked painfully forced.

The children stopped playing, instead choosing to watch the newbie and the “strange Riddle-boy”.

“I'm sorry”, Harry said and sounded nearly shy, “I was just wondering where I was supposed to go now ...?” he trailed of, questioning.

Mrs. Cole licked her lips, nervously, and her eyes flickered back and forth between Harry and Tom. The children stared.

Violet — one of their chaperons — answered coldly. “We have one single room left, opposite to Toms. Or you can go with in his room. There is also a bed free.”

The children shifted uneasily. Sharing a room with Tom was the worst nightmare they could imagine and even the room opposite his was empty for a good reason, in their opinion.

Tom had a hard time not showing the adults what exactly he thought of _that_. Sharing a room with another child? Not in their wildest dreams, even if the boy could do the same things as him — and it was a pretty big if, since Harry seemed pretty ordinary as of yet.

Harry glanced in Toms direction for just a second, before turning around again. He probably didn't look as calm as he had wanted to.

“I'd like the single room, if possible”, he said politely.

Violet nodded, Mrs Cole seemed quite relived and the other children shared some meaningful looks. Harry looked confused for a moment, before he looked to Tom with something that might even be suspicion. He didn't seem to dare to ask.

Tom didn't know why he did it. Maybe it was curiosity. Maybe it was something close to pity. Maybe there wasn't a simple reason. Maybe he just did.

“I'll show you to your room, Harry.”

This time some children gasped audibly for air. Mrs Cole became quite pale and Violet's jaw dropped.

Understandably, since Tom wasn't exactly known for being nice or helping other children. Ever.

Harry looked at the adults and their reactions for a moment longer, frowning. Then he turned towards Tom with a shy smile. “Thank you, Tom.”

Tom smiled without quite meaning to.

But it meant nothing, not really. Harry was just another one of these stupid children; good to pass the time with if need be, but nothing more. 

 

 

  
_A ship is better preserved at the port. But that's not what it was build for._

 

 

  
**S** lowly Harry sank onto his bed as soon as Tom closed the door to his room behind him. His new room was, essentially, just a small, bare room with an old closet and an iron bed frame. On the wall, opposite the door, stood an old, dusty regal.

  
It looked just like the rest of the orphanage.

Old, shabby and anything but suitable for children. Harry was used to that.

What Harry wasn't used to was a person showing any kind — no matter how small — of interest in him. But Tom had voluntary showed him to his room. He hadn't complained about Harry living in the room opposite to his. He'd been helpful.

The children Harry was used to, from the five orphanages he had lived in before, had all hated him. He wasn't normal. He was an unnatural freak.

He'd been called that so, so many times he had lost count. Mostly it had been the other children, but sometimes even the chaperons had said it to him.

Tom though ... he didn't even seem despise Harry. He had even smiled for a moment when Harry had thanked him.

The reaction from the other children had been strange, though. Why did they act like ... _that_? Because Tom might have to share a room with him?

In the other orphanages he had seen reactions like that if someone new might have to share a room with Harry. One of the reasons he had never had any friends before; they all choose the single bedroom, or, when none was available, brought another mattress in one of the other rooms — anything to avoid sharing a room with Harry.

The chaperons never said a thing about it.

Well, it was no use brood about it, Harry thought. Maybe Tom was a well-liked child here. Maybe the other kids had been horrified by the thought of Tom having to share with someone like _him_. They might have heard stories about how unnatural Harry was.

Yes, that seemed most likely.

And yet ... Harry really would have liked to get to know him. He couldn't think of a single person that had been as nice to him as Tom had been today.

Harry sighed and started unpacking his suitcase. He didn't own much; what little he had had often been stolen by the other children or destroyed.

  
He put his few belongings — mostly old clothes — into the closet, thoughts still centered around Tom. If he might get the chance to talk to him again? Or would Tom ignore him? He certainly would as soon as something ... _strange_ happened around him. And Harry didn't know how to stop it from happening. It just happened, without his say-so.

Sometimes he thought that these _happenings_ were connected to his feelings. And he couldn't stop feeling, no matter how hard he tried. And he had tried, for certain.

A loud knock on his door distracted him from his thoughts. He looked around his room for a moment, strangely uncertain, before turning towards the door “Yes?”

The head of his new orphanage, Mrs Cole, came inside. She closed the door behind her and Harry tensed involuntarily.

“Harry -”, she said, but stopped. She sighed. Than she seemed to change her mind about whatever she had wanted to say.

“Mr. White just left. He did not wish to say goodbye to you”, she said instead. Harry nodded, not surprised. He hadn't expected Mr. White to care — he certainly never had before.

“I will inform you about your house rules then. There will be no violence, no rows or quarrels. Try to integrate yourself into our community. Everyone has to do chores; there's a list in the kitchen downstairs. Look there daily and do your tasks.”

Harry nodded. Nothing unexpected there. Mrs. Cole looked around his room for a moment before adding: “Come downstairs when your ready and done with unpacking. I'll introduce you to the other children and chaperons. And you'll need a tour of the orphanage, of course. I expect you to know your way around by tomorrow.”

“I'm ready”, was all Harry said.

Mrs. Cole looked at him sharply before turning around and indicating with a movement of her hand that Harry should follow her.

 

  
"Amy Benson"  
"Dennis Bishop"  
...

  
"Lucy and Laura Madley"  
"Billy Stupps"  
...

  
"Emily Black"  
"Katherine Jordan"  
...

  
"Tom Riddle"  
"Stefan Sloper"  
...

  
"Hannah Snow"  
"Meggie Neely"

 

Those and many more children were introduced to Harry. He noticed quickly that they had definitely heard stories about him before. Nobody — apart from Tom — looked at him directly and nobody spoke a word. They looked at him from the corner of their eyes, suspicious and scared.

  
Harry was just as quiet.

Only Mrs. Cole and the chaperons — Violet, Cassandra and Sarah as they had introduced themselves at — spoke.

Harry tried to memorize as many names and faces as he could. He didn't think he succeeded.

“We'll be busy for the next hour”, said Mrs. Cole then. “Which one of you would be so kind as to show Harry around the orphanage?”

Nobody volunteered, of course. Mrs. Cole sighed.

“Lucy? Would be so kind?”

A girl, her blond hair braided into two pigtails, looked up sharply. She had light blue eyes and wore dirty, faded jeans and a faded red shirt.

Pitying looks were shot in her direction. Yet nobody stepped forward to take her place; even her sister did nothing more than fidget in her seat.

“Of course, Mrs. Cole”, said Lucy. Hesitantly she stood up and come closer to Harry; she stopped nearly half a meter before him and stared. There was fear in her eyes. She looked as if she expected something horrible to happen to her. Harry looked to Tom without quite meaning to. Tom sat there, smiling, and watching Lucy closely. He seemed to find her reaction funny.

  
“Everyone else may go back to their rooms”, Cassandra, one of the chaperons, said at last. Everyone scrambled to leave the room as fast as possible. Only Lucy and her sister, Laura, stayed behind. Harry could imagine what she wanted.

He didn't know that Tom lingered, too, behind the door to listen in.

“Listen carefully”, Laura said in a quiet, but angry voice. “I won't let you harm my sister. If you dare to even think about touching her — I'll go to Mrs. Cole and make sure she throws you out again. Do you understand, you abnormal freak?!”

“I won't hurt her”, Harry said, ignoring her threats and insults. He had heard worse and anyway: she was just worried about her sister.

Laura opened her mouth to say something else — probably nothing kind — when Lucy interrupted her swiftly. “It's alright, Laura. I can take care of myself, you know, don't worry. I'll just show him around.”

With a last angry glance in Harry's direction and a worried one in Lucy's, Laura disappeared through the door. Tom stayed hidden and contemplated about the strange new boy in their mist.

 

 

  
_It screams inside of me - so deeply inside me that it can't break out and must stay in my soul forever._

 

 

  
“He is strange, isn't he? Like the Riddle boy.”

“Of course. As I've told you before, Cassandra.”

“Why did we take him in again?”

“Because we’re an orphanage, and we have to take orphaned children in, no matter how strange or unnatural they are.”

“We already have one of his kind! What if they band together? What will we do then?”

“Don't speak of the devil — Besides it's Tom where talking about here. He's never been interested in friends. Why should it be different with this boy?”

“Well — have you ever seen him offer help before? Voluntary?”

“No.”

“Well, there you go than. He did, today, with this boy. I'm telling you — we need to keep them apart.”

“And how to you plan to do that? They're rooms are practically next to each other.”

...

“We can be glad than, that the boy didn't move in Toms room.”

 

 

  
_When walking in the wrong direction, there is no sense in speeding up._

 

 

 

_The following days were very much satisfactorily for Mrs. Cole and the other chaperons. Neither Harry nor Tom got any closer to the other. The other children started hating on Harry, but that didn't matter to them — as long as Harry and Tom kept away from each other they didn't care about anything else._  
_The strange happening were within limits, too. Only one time, when Lucy accidentally dropped a glass of water, had Harry stopped it from shattering on the floor. Instead, it had bounced back into Lucy's hand like a bouncy ball. Nobody doubted that it had been Harrys fault; Tom hadn't been around and Lucy had always been a nice, normal girl. And either way, everyone swore that Harry had been staring at the glass when it had happened._

_The hatred towards Harry grew and children started to taunt and sneer at him._

_Only Tom and Lucy didn't participate in the mockeries._

_The worst where probably Laura Madley and Amy Benson — Lucy's sister and her best friend. But the other children also held nothing back in their scornful commentary._

_That Harry had saved Lucy from a punishment went, naturally, unnoticed. They were to stubborn in their beliefs to register something positive about Harrys strange powers._

_Expect Tom. He knew and understood what Harry had done. And he couldn't understand was why Harry would do that — why he would use his power to help some girl. Why she should be worth it; worth displaying his powers and risk the hatred and mockery of everyone._

_He watched Harry from afar, wondering if Harry could be used for his purposes. At least, until this one day ..._


End file.
